


Her Smile was like Coffee

by TheSoggySchuyler4



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 13:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19006726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSoggySchuyler4/pseuds/TheSoggySchuyler4
Summary: When he enters Gamora's cafe for the first time, she hates him instantly.That typical Coffee Au that I had to write because feelings.





	Her Smile was like Coffee

When he enters Gamora's cafe for the first time, she hates him instantly. His smug, insufferable smirk, paired with his muddy boots and the fact that she was just about to close up grates on her nerves and she can't help but frown  as she gets his coffee.

"Aren't you supposed to be friendly to customers? I mean, if this is how you normally act, no wonder the place is so empty" He grins at her, drumming his fingers on the counter to the beat of an imagininary song. Gamora scowls and hands him his drink. 

"It's empty because I was just closing up," she all but snarls at him, "and maybe if I'm a little unfriendly, you won't come back" 

It's not true, of course. As much as Gamora would love to never see this insufferable man again, she can still feel Thanos' hands slamming into her from the last time she 'chased away a customer', and she doesn't want a repeat. That's the only reason why she plasters on a smile as he leaves, and puts on a fake cheerful voice to say, 

"Be sure to come again soon, preferably at a more reasonable hour"   
He tips an imaginary hat at her in response and sticks out his tongue before practically dancing out the door. Gamora frowns irritably as she finally locks up and head home. That man is an idiot. 

Gamora honestly doesn't expect him to return, but there he is the following Monday, dripping mud and water, and grinning like he just won the lottery. There are still a few lingering customers in the cafe, so she smiles as he approaches the counter. 

"You didn't expect to see me again" He observes, his eyes twinkling in a way that somehow makes her hate him even more. 

"No," she relents as she makes his coffee (the same as last time), "but you're here so I'll be polite" 

To her relief he doesn't stay long, but he does tip his imaginary hat again as he leaves, and she can't help the snort of amusement that escapes her. She ignores the funny look Nebula gives her. 

He comes again two days later, and offers her an earphone as he drums his fingers on the table. She'll admit that it's a good song- one of her favourites- but the drum beat has barely kicked in before she's called away to help another customer. When she glances back around, he is already gone. 

Before she even knows what has hit her, the man becomes the best part of her week. She lives and breathes for the brief, teasing arguments that they share over the counter as she makes him the same coffee every time, and she can practically feel the weight of her exhausting life lift from her shoulders when he flashes her a smile. She quickly learns that his name is Peter Quill, and that his excellent taste of music is not limited to just that one song. 

He brings his friends with him a few times; a shortish hairy man with a huge scowl and a temperamental attitude nicknamed Rocket, and a near silent tall bloke with woody brown hair and strange streaks on his dark skin.

"It's a skin condition," Peter informs her, "He doesn't like to talk about it"

'Groot' as he is known, doesn't seem to talk at all, but Gamora quickly discovers that this is due to him only recently starting speech therapy, and only having learnt to say "I am Groot". He seems quite content to express himself using just those words, so Gamora starts to decipher his mood by other tells, such as his tone of voice, or his body language. Groot and Rocket join Peter about once or twice a month and she gets to know them both reasonably well.

The last of his friends is a muscular bodybuilder named Drax, who is so covered in vibrant red and purple tattoos that his skin has a vague grey tinge to it, and he takes everything so literally that it might be really funny if it wasn't so annoying. 

Gamora tries to introduce Peter to Nebula, but she hates him by default, and Peter decides  
that he much prefers talking to her instead.

So a year goes by, and Peter comes in almost every single day, and never fails to make her smile.

"You like him" Nebula mutters one evening, as they prepare to lock up. Gamora scowls in her sister's direction, but Nebula has clearly decided that the conversation is over, so she doesn't bother denying it. The thing is that she does like Peter; he's funny and sweet and his presence gives her a lightness she hasn't felt in years. Thanos would never allow such feelings though, and if she's honest, she's a little afraid to act on them. She had never known love as a child and- it occurs to Gamora that she may be in a little deeper than she'd first thought.

It all comes to a head when Peter makes the stupidly reckless desision of visiting her after work. It's not long after closing time- half an hour at the most- but that's long enough that the other workers have left, and Thanos is already there to give his usual punishments. Nebula gets two hard kicks to the gut, making no noise other than  slight grunt of pain. Thanos smiles slightly in Gamora's direction, like they're sharing some joke that Nebula isn't a part of, and she forces herself to smile back, because if she's lucky, Thanos won't lay a finger on her at all.

She's not lucky at all though, because there's Peter, waving through the window with a painfully oblivious smile on his stupid gorgeous face, and suddenly Thanos has his hands around her neck and is asking questions and she can't breathe. She sees Peter's face twist to horror at the realisation of what's going on, and suddenly he's there and fighting Thanos to leave her alone. The last thing Gamora sees before she blacks out completely, is Peter's face. It's filled with a rage and taste for vengeance that she had never expected to see from the amiable man, and it occurs to her, that this reaction is entirely because of her.

Gamora wakes up in a hospital bed, with Groot sobbing like a child at her shoulder, and Peter clutching her hand. Rocket, she assumes, is provably nearby too.

"You're all here?" She asks, and Peter looks at her as if to say 'Why wouldn't we be?'

"You're our friend" Rocket mumbles from where he and Drax have appeared by the door. 

Groot presses a bumpy finger to her chest, and she tries very hard not to wince at the flash of pain. 

"We. Are. Groot."

(Gamora takes 4 months before she builds up the courage to kiss Peter, and is met with resounding cheers from all of her newly acquired friends)


End file.
